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Questions raised about Nick Rahall helping son

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) used congressional stationery to ask a judge for leniency for his son. |
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On July 13, 2003, Rahall and another man entered the home of Richard Hagy in Annandale, Va., held him on the floor and robbed him of $5,000, according to Fairfax County court documents and media reports.

Overheu had a lengthy criminal record of her own. Hagy was Overheu’s boyfriend, and she told police that she had tipped off Rahall that the money was in Hagy’s home.

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Ten days later, Fairfax County police issued arrest warrants for the younger Rahall on felony breaking and entering charges.

On July 25, while still wanted on the felony robbery charges in Fairfax County, Rahall flipped his car over on the West Virginia Turnpike at 3:30 a.m. and was charged with driving under the influence.

The younger Rahall was processed in West Virginia on the DUI charge and then moved to Virginia to be arraigned in the robbery case. He was released on $15,000 bail.
However, he was arrested again a month later — in August 2003 — for selling cocaine to a police informant in West Virginia. That drug deal was secretly taped by police, according to court documents.

In December 2003, the younger Rahall pleaded guilty to distribution of cocaine charges in the West Virginia sting and was later sentenced to 14 months in prison, with three years probation tacked on. He served less than seven months and was released on Oct. 29, 2004, records from the federal Bureau of Prisons show.

While still on probation for the cocaine charges, the younger Rahall came up for sentencing in the Fairfax robbery case. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, a lesser offense, thus avoiding a trial.

In a sentencing guideline report prepared for Stitt — defendants are evaluated on a mathematical formula based on their criminal history and the severity of the crime — the younger Rahall was rated at just under the level required for mandatory incarceration. He was given probation and fined $9,160, according to court documents.

Overheu, for her part, was given a much worse score on the sentencing guidelines and sentenced to 11 months in prison. Her case was overseen by a different judge, and the sentence was handed out before Rahall went in front of Stitt. She was released from prison at the end of May 2005.

Overheu was a single mother with a criminal history extending back nearly a decade before she committed the robbery with Rahall. Several of the cases involved forging drug prescriptions, Virginia arrest records show.

After being released from prison, Overheu went back to using drugs. A bench warrant was issued for her arrest in January 2006 after she failed a drug test while still on probation, but she died just days later at the age of 31.

Nick Joe Rahall has not gotten into trouble with the law since the 2005 case, according to the congressman.

Rangel.... Waters.... the Sickness of self impressed Power infected Deranged poster boys and girls in DC seem to have NO LIMITS... However often they vie for Poster Person for TERM LIMITS!

Oh well Michelle is Bent, like Obummer, to party Hardy at tax payers Expense and might as well do it for ONE term before going back to SO CHI with all the unindicted Felons and Commies so why not have these " royal" class Idiots do the same???

Any idiot knows not to use company letterhead for personal communication. If any of my employees, or employees of any company for which I ever worked, ever did that, they would be fired. It's right in the employee handbook.

They do this because of arrogance. The feel they are above the mundane everyday rules of the mewling proletariat. It would seem to me that this misplaced arrogance is going to be the downfall of many on the left. The die is cast and the legacy set for the democrat party's November demise...there is not much they can do now at this late date to change it. Perhaps rather than rolling out the pork barrels the democrats should have spent at least 30 seconds worrying about how the American people would pay for it all whilst unemployed.

Another laughable and weak excuse. I deplore the trend to trivialize the crimes of young people who are over the age of 20 and should know what they are doing. This 27 year old has had plenty of chances to turn his life around, however, I wish him luck on this advantaged opportunity he has been awarded. Any judge who would let a letterhead from a political figure change or influence his decision is also unethical, IMP. (My father was a state supreme court judge and an ethical man...he is the standard by which I judge all men)

Two definitions for the verb tense of rule are, "to execise control over...to dominate by powerful influence (Websters)." Contrast that with two of the definitions for the word serve, "To work for...to be a servant to (Websters)."

So what does the concept of "public service" really mean? To us it means our politicians work for us and for the good of the Nation. To understand the meaning from our politicians perspective, we just need to remember the old Lay's potato chip add that said, "Nobody can eat just one." For our politicians it means, "Nobody can serve just one." Once our politicians get a "taste" of life in Congress they want to be elected time and time again so they can enjoy long careers in "public service."

For the Democratic Party and the Republican Party and their respective party leadership public service means being the majority party - the party in power. Our "two party system" and the political culture that supports that system has coronated the Democratic Party and the Republican Party as the rulers of our Nation. Today instead of government "of the people, by the people, for the people" (Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address) we have government of the party, by the party and for the party. The two parties control the entire political process in this country and exert powerful influence to maintain that control.

So, as stated before, when we send our politicians to Washington we expect them to serve us - to work for us. However, when they get to Washington they quickly learn that if they want long careers they must bide their time, toe the party line and appease their parties' leadership. After all, that is what they must do, just like their predecessors, to ascend to the coveted positions of power and influence within their parties. If they don't do those things their careers will be short lived. And if they can be the leaders of the majority party, which they always want to be, their power and prestige is enhanced and their careers in "pubic service" even more fulfilling. Consequently, our needs and the interests of the Nation become subservient to the needs of the party and the parties' interests.

Rahall admits to using a "different type" of congressional letterhead paper for his letter to the judge. How many "types" do our congressmen use and for what purposes? Do those who send money get a better "type" than those who send critical letters? Term Limits will solve these issues.

My favorite part of the story - he is going to pay back the Treasury for the use of the stationery. Save the 20 cents, the USofA can afford it. I prefer you pay back the money you have voted to print the past two years.

He's a great father to stand by his son but is just another corrupt politician.

Having been on the receiving end of a hit-and-run motor vehicle collision with junior behind the wheel, I have first-hand experience with the way senior operates. He appropriates federal funding to the Fairfax County police for its "Smooth Operator" aggressive driver interdiction program, and the charges against junior magically dispappear!